The Pursuit of Fame: Part 2

By Michael Scott Karpovich, Certified Speaking Professional, 2000-2001 Chair, Motivational/Keynote Professional Experts Group

1,020 Word Count

Happy New Year and Happy real New Millennium! Now we can say the 21^st century has officially begun.  Let’s start it off with a strategic approach to developing our fame!  Many of you know that I have a “visual logo” of two different-colored hi-top tennis shoes. No matter what you think about this logo, I have leveraged it very effectively since I started wearing hi-tops in the late seventies!  Now I would like to suggest to you a different type of logo, something I call an audio logo…

Some have suggested that real fame comes from finding one’s niche and specializing within an industry and with a single topic. These people may be correct, if you are attempting to establish yourself as an industry expert, or are aiming to become famous within one specific industry. However, if you are trying to establish yourself as a “celebrity” or as a “name that draws,” you must have something more… a title or an “audio logo.”

I never want to speak poorly of our colleagues…that would be unethical. However, have you noticed how many NSA speakers have really stupid titles?  Sorry, but it is so true!  Many speakers’ titles sound the same and mean nothing! I can’t begin to tell you how tiresome it is to hear titles like “See You at The Top Floor,”  “Leadership & Your Inner god-like Self,” “The One Minute Zen Buddhist,” “The Magic In YOU,” or “The Power of Positive Bicycle Riding!”  For Pete’s sake!  They all sound the same and many of them (in my opinion) are in danger of copyright infringements!

You see, the secret of FAME is having a title that is uniquely yours!  An audio logo that is quotable and memorable will better serve your message, your audience and your eventual fame.

Perhaps the best way to bring this home for you is by example.  If you were to read “See You At the Top,” whom do you think of? Of course, Zig Ziglar – he owns the title, he owns the words, he owns the concept!  On the other hand, if I asked you to connect “The Power of Positive Thinking,” whom would you think about?  Yes, the late Norman Vincent Peale has gone to be with the Lord for years but he still owns that title.  On the other hand, if I mentioned Dr. Peale, wouldn’t you automatically think of the words “The Power of Positive Thinking?” And if I said “Zig,” wouldn’t you tend to think of “See You At The Top” immediately? When you think of these men, you think of their titles. When you think of their titles, you think of them.  That is how your title must work for you! Somehow, you and I must connect ourselves to our titles so that our name is interchangeable with our titles.

Another interesting example is “The One Minute… anything.”  W ho do you think of?  Do you think of CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame Recipient Ken Blanchard? Me, too, but the amazing thing is it didn’t start out as his title. The title “The One Minute Manager” started out as “The One Minute Parent” and was written by Dr. Spencer Johnson, but as he collaborated with Ken, the book evolved.  Now, even though it is Spencer’s title as much as it is Ken’s, Blanchard capitalized on it by creating spin-off books and doing more platform work.  Blanchard was brilliant in positioning himself by creating his management institute, and, of course, by speaking! (Can you imagine what it must be like to own the words “One Minute…”? Talk about positioning!)

One of the biggest problems I have seen with my NSA peers is the “singsong” title. I don’t know if we do this because we think ourselves the poet or simply because we are verbose, but too many will create program titles that have more rhyme than meaning. Silly titles like “The Scope of Hope” or “Reach for Your Peak” only suggest a topic and are anything but obvious.  Great audio logos will tell the audience exactly what you are all about.

Another mistake some colleagues make is being addicted to acronyms. Although acronyms are rarely used as titles of presentations, occasionally they are.  You have seen them throughout our industry: I. C.A.R.E. or S.T.O.P.  S.T.R.E.S.S.!  I don’t care how clever they are -- statistical studies have confirmed that acronyms are rarely easy to remember and never carry as much punch as a great audio logo.

Here is your assignment: Put on your cynical hat (I know you may not be comfortable with that) and open your chapter directory or web site and read the titles listed.  Are they audio logos, are they singsong, are they acronyms or do they sound like everyone else’s title?

If you and I can create a unique, quotable, memorable title, it will become more than the title of our speech, more than the title of our book or even the title of several books in a series…it will become our identity! For our clients, it can become the title of an entire convention.  I have had at least a dozen conventions where I was the keynote speaker and my title became the theme for the entire event!  Sometimes, in those cases, I did a keynote, several breakouts and once, I did all of that and a closing keynote.  Imagine being the opening keynote of a conference named after your title, followed by several small breakouts concluding with a keynote wrap-up… I owned that event and was positioned very well!

Once you have developed your own title that will work as your audio logo, you will have taken a huge step towards pursuing your own “fame.” So as soon as you can, start capitalizing on it. Copyright it, write about it, then brag about it and discuss it to make it your own and make sure that everyone knows it is yours!

Join us on Collective Voices for lively conversations about building our fame.

DISCLAIMER: All titles not attributed to an individual speaker are fictitious. Any similarity to an actual title, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.